Area event handling when current network does not cover target area

ABSTRACT

Area event triggers are handled by receiving an original area event trigger with an initial target area within a given mobile network, for a given target mobile device. When the target mobile device is outside the mobile network serving the target area, a first changed area event trigger based on entry into the given mobile network is transmitted to the given target mobile device. When the first changed area event trigger becomes satisfied, a second changed area event trigger is generated based on entry into the initial target area, and transmitted to the given target mobile device. The second changed area event trigger may be based on entry into a region larger than, but including, the initial target area. Then when the second changed area event trigger becomes satisfied, the original area event trigger may be transmitted to the target mobile device.

The present application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/805,201, entitled “Mobile Based Area Event Handling When Currently Visited Network Does Not Cover Area”, filed Jul. 19, 2010, to Zhu et al.; which in turn is a continuation of U.S. Pat. No. 7,764,961, entitled “Mobile Based Area Event Handling When Currently Visited Network Does Not Cover Area”, filed Sep. 3, 2009, to Zhu et al., which in turn is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/399,528, entitled “Mobile Based Area Event Handling When Currently Visited Network Does Not Cover Area, filed Apr. 7, 2006, to Zhu et al., now abandoned, which in turn is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/459,448, entitled “Mobile Based Area Event Handling When Currently Visited Network Does Not Cover Area”, filed Jun. 12, 2003, to Zhu, now abandoned; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/585,104, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/007,948, filed on Jan. 17, 2008; and a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/360,579, filed on Feb. 4, 2006, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/318,171, filed on Dec. 13, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,321,773. The present application also claims priority from U.S. Provisional No. 61/457,082, entitled “Area Event Handling When Current Network Does Not Cover Area” to Zhu et al. The entirety of all priority documents listed above are expressly incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to wireless and long distance carriers, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and information content delivery services/providers and long distance carriers. More particularly, it relates to location services for the wireless industry.

2. Background of Related Art

Area event based location services have been defined in multiple standards, for example, Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) has been defined in Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) and Control Plane Location Services specified in 3^(rd) Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).

A method was introduced by the same inventors as herein in U.S. Pat. No. 7,764,961, which resolves the issue where a request for area watching service was initiated when the target mobile was not served by the Home mobile network. This invention expands the concept of U.S. Pat. No. 7,764,961 to improve the overall efficiency and feasibility of area watching services when the target mobile is not in the region of the defined watched area, and it is applicable to not only the Control Plane based location service solutions (e.g. 3GPP defined location service architecture) but also User Plane based location service solutions (e.g. OMA SUPL). U.S. Pat. No. 7,764,961 is expressly incorporated herein by reference.

An area watching (a.k.a. Area Event Triggered) request may describe a watched area in three different formats: geodetic shapes, mobile network identifier, and well known location name (e.g. Seattle). Except the scenario where mobile network identifier is used, the location server (normally it is the location server that covers the specified watched area, or optimization of the location server of the home network may be applicable), needs to either covert the watched area to a set of identifiers of the radio access network (e.g. Cell Identifiers) or a geodetic description that describes the watched area. For both conversions, a Geographic Information System (GIS) is required, where the conversion from geodetic shape to access network identifiers requires the detailed geographic maps of the radio network deployments (e.g. the geographic coverage of each mobile radio base station), the database that maintains the maps is normally known as a Cell Database. Besides the fact that a GIS system is extremely expensive and complex, the size of a Cell Database has been expanding along with the development of the mobile communication technologies, e.g., in reverse proportion to cell sizes become smaller and smaller for better radio coverage. Additionally, more radio access technologies adds to the size of the Cell Database, e.g., each new access technology introduces a new base station type and new network identifier (i.e. Cell Identifier) to be included. For example, OMA SUPL has defined information elements for GSM cell, WCDMA/TD-SCDMA cell, CDMA cell, HRPD cell, LTE cell, UMB cell, WLAN AP, WiMAX BS, etc. When an area watching request includes a watched area specified in a geodetic shape, if the network directly sets up a triggered location service with a geodetic location shape due to no GIS system being available or the cell database doesn't contain complete coverage for the watched area (thus the conversion to a set of cell identifiers is not possible), the mobile has to perform positioning on a periodic basis to detect the area event (e.g. detecting if/when the mobile device enters the watched area). But in this scenario, lots of network traffic is generated for a single area watching request, and as a result the battery of the mobile device may be drained more quickly caused by the need for more frequent positioning. Moreover, the actual area watching event may be missed if the area event occurs within the time interval between positions.

The conventional extended procedure allows the location service system to use some public information to substitute the original watched area with some high level network identifiers (e.g., a mobile network identifier and a mobile switch center (MSC) identifier), and start a positioning procedure for the original watched area only when the mobile device is close to the original watched area. The procedure is generic and applicable for both Control Plane based solutions and User Plane based solutions. However, conventional systems are disadvantageous because they are inefficient, and excessively consume battery power thus limiting the amount of service (and may cause rejection of a deferred area event location service in roaming scenarios).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the principles of the present invention, a method and apparatus for handling area events comprises receiving an original area event trigger with an initial target area within a given mobile network, for a given target mobile device. A determination is made that the given target mobile device is currently outside the mobile network serving the target area. A first changed area event trigger is generated, and the first changed area event trigger is transmitted to the given target mobile device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows an example use case of a VoIP 911 location service system, in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a detailed procedure of an area event triggered request, in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

The present invention enables a location system to get informed when a target mobile enters one of the possible networks or serving nodes that cover the target area, and re-aims the original area event request. The invention also overcomes the prior art issue related to network selection when there are multiple networks available at a certain area.

An enhanced procedure in accordance with the principles of the present invention is based on a mobile network list and/or mobile serving nodes (e.g. MSC, SGSN, MME etc) with estimated geographic coverage areas stored in the Home Location Server, the list includes the mobile networks and mobile serving nodes, and the estimated service coverage of each mobile networks and serving node in the stored list. The mobile enters the new network coverage, it uses these lists to make a decision for network access selection. Although the network selection can be done manually by the user, however, these lists are predefined by the operator based on the roaming agreements, so the final decision should be one of mobile networks or serving nodes in these lists.

When the location server discovers that the current visited mobile network does not serve the original target area, it modifies the area event to when the UE enters one of the mobile networks, so that the location server will get notified when the target UE enters a mobile network that serves the original target area. After being notified, the location server sends an area event with a list of serving nodes that cover the original target area. When the mobile enters one of the serving nodes, the location server then re-sends the original area event location service request to the target mobile.

FIG. 1 shows an example use case of a VoIP 911 location service system, in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

In particular, as shown in step 1 of FIG. 1, a location enabled application device 130 initiates an Area Event Trigger with a target area in mobile network B 110 to the home location server 112.

In step 2, the home location server 112 discovers that the target mobile 100 is currently in mobile network A 140, and thus it changes the Area Event to alert when the target mobile 100 enters mobile network B 110, and sends that changed Area Event Trigger to the target mobile 100.

In Report 1, when the target mobile 100 enters mobile network B 110, an area event report is sent to the home location server 112.

In step 3, after receiving the Report 1 and finding the target mobile 100 is not in the more refined target serving node 122, the home location server 112 generates an Area Event Trigger to alert when the target mobile 100 enters the desired target serving node area 122, and sends it to the target mobile 100.

In Report 2, when the target mobile 100 enters the target serving node area/coverage 122, an area event report is sent to the home location server 112.

In step 4, after the receipt of the Report 2, the home location server 112 finds the target mobile 100 is already (and finally) in the coverage of the target serving node 122, and it forwards the original Area Event Trigger received from the location enabled application device 130 to the target mobile 100.

In the Final Report, the target mobile's movement makes the original area event satisfied, and thus a final area event report is sent to the home location server 112, which forwards the final area event report to the location enabled application device 130.

FIG. 2 shows a detailed procedure of an area event triggered request, in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

In particular, as shown in FIG. 2, an area event process is instigated in step 210.

In step 212, the process determines if the target_area is defined by network identifiers (e.g., CGI, PLMN, etc.)

If yes, then in step 214 the target area is converted to network identifiers. If no, then in step 216 the current serving cell ID is retrieved.

In step 218, the process determines if the current serving cell is in the target country (e.g. CC as the target area?)

If no, then in step 220 the process determines if the change_area is of the type “MS_OUTSIDE_AREA”. If yes in step 218, then the process moves to step 228 to determine if the current serving cell is in the target network (e.g., same CC+MNC).

Back to step 220, if the change_area is of the type “MS_OUTSIDE_AREA”, then the process moves to step 252 to initiate a report for the Area Event Trigger, then moves to the completion step 252.

If instead the change_area is not of the type “MS_OUTSIDE_AREA”, then in step 224 the target area is changed to the Entering the country (e.g. CC), and the event is initiated to the mobile device, in step 226 produces an area event report, then passes to step 228.

In step 228, the process determines if the current serving cell is in the target network (e.g., same CC+MNC). If yes, the process moves to step 238; if no, the process moves to step 230.

In step 230, the process determines if the change_area is of the type “MS_OUTSIDE_AREA”. If yes, in step 232 the process initiates a report for the area event trigger, then moves to the completion step 252. If no, then in step 234 the process changes the target area to the entering the mobile network of the target (e.g., CC+MNC), and initiates the event to the mobile; in step 236 an area event report is produced, and the process moves to step 238.

In step 238, the process determines if the current serving cell is in the target serving node (e.g., MSC, SGSN, MME, etc.) If no, step 240 determines if the change_area type is “MS_OUTSIDE_AREA”, and step 242 initiates a report for the area event trigger, before moving to the completion step 252. If no, the target area is changed to the Entering the mobile network of the target (e.g., CC+MNC), and the event is initiated to the mobile device. Following step 244, the area event report is produced in step 246, and the process returns to step 238.

If, in step 238, the current serving cell IS in the target serving node, then in step 248 the area event is initiated to the UE using the original area event definition, and an area event is reported in step 250, before passing to the completion step 252.

The present invention resolves issues relating to roaming support for area event location service, efficient without generating lots core network traffic, capable of providing service even when there are multiple networks cover the target area.

The present invention has particular application to commercial location products including user plane and control plane products, and is foreseen to have a substantial market with operators who want to provide area event location services.

While the invention has been described with reference to the exemplary embodiments thereof, those skilled in the art will be able to make various modifications to the described embodiments of the invention without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention. 

1. A method of handling area events, comprising: receiving an original area event trigger with an initial target area within a given mobile network, for a given target mobile device; determining that said given target mobile device is currently outside said mobile network serving said target area; generating a first changed area event trigger; and transmitting said first changed area event trigger to said given target mobile device.
 2. The method of handling area events according to claim 1, wherein: said changed area event trigger is based on entry into said given mobile network.
 3. The method of handling area events according to claim 2, further comprising: when said first changed area event trigger becomes satisfied, generating a second changed area event trigger based on entry into said initial target area; and transmitting said second changed area event trigger to said given target mobile device.
 4. The method of handling area events according to claim 2, further comprising: when said first changed area event trigger becomes satisfied, generating a second changed area event trigger based on entry into a region larger than, but including, said initial target area; and transmitting said second changed area event trigger to said given target mobile device.
 5. The method of handling area events according to claim 4, further comprising: when said second changed area event trigger becomes satisfied, transmitting said original area event trigger to said target mobile device.
 6. Apparatus for handling area events, comprising: means for receiving an original area event trigger with an initial target area within a given mobile network, for a given target mobile device; means for determining that said given target mobile device is currently outside said mobile network serving said target area; means for generating a first changed area event trigger; and means for transmitting said first changed area event trigger to said given target mobile device.
 7. The apparatus for handling area events according to claim 6, wherein: said changed area event trigger is based on entry into said given mobile network.
 8. The apparatus for handling area events according to claim 7, further comprising: means for generating a second changed area event trigger based on entry into said initial target area, when said first changed area event trigger becomes satisfied; and means for transmitting said second changed area event trigger to said given target mobile device.
 9. The apparatus for handling area events according to claim 7, further comprising: means for generating a second changed area event trigger based on entry into a region larger than, but including, said initial target area, when said first changed area event trigger becomes satisfied; and means for transmitting said second changed area event trigger to said given target mobile device.
 10. The apparatus for handling area events according to claim 9, further comprising: means for transmitting said original area event trigger to said target mobile device, when said second changed area event trigger becomes satisfied. 